Chuck Liddell’s next opponent “possibly Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua”

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, former UFC light-heavyweight champion, Chuck Liddell stated that his next opponent possibly would be former Pride standout, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua.

SI.com: So what’s next for you? Have you been told your next opponent?

Liddell:Possibly Mauricia “Shogun” Hua. That’s what they’re saying. If it’s the June fight, it will probably be in London. But my trainer is trying to get it moved to Vegas. Too far. (Liddell is based in San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

This is good news for Keith Jardine who was looking for a while as being Liddell’s next opponent, which would’ve been a bit harsh considering he had already beaten Liddell decisively in his last fight.

The only problem I have with this match-up is that I would have liked to have seen Shogun get a warm up fight before he was tested again. I guess you could say Griffin was meant to be his warm up fight but as we all know, it didn’t work out that way.

The June/July date speculated by Liddell could very well coincide with a UFC event headlined by a title fight between current light-heavyweight champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and TUF 1 winner Forrest Griffin. If so, this bout would most certainly be booked as the co-main event.

I’m going to have to disagree with you. Shogun signed for a big cash, he came in as a legit #1 contender. He obviously took Forrest way too lightly, or what else was it, hard time cutting, just got married, this organization tests for steroids….

Doesn’t matter, he’s part of the top 10 LHW rankings alot of different places, no more freebies. Prove it, you’re swimming in the big pond now.

Everyone is gunning for your spot.

I have to admit, I really like this about the rampant UFC spending there has been. Nobody gets a “gimmie” fight anymore or at least rarely. Every fight have the potential of moving you 1-3 spots in the rankings and two wins could mean a title shot. Man, I think the days of Champions only defending twice a year are done. There’s going to be so many people knocking on the door, champs are going to be 4-5 fights a year or they’re going to have to add more weight classes.

I remember Joe Rogan saying something on the Underground forum about how we would like a few more weight classes, so that were only 10 lbs. apart. As in 150, 160, 170, 180, 190, 200, 210, 210+

If you start adding weight classes i think it begins a slippery slope to boxing where theres weight classes every half a pound. The 20 lbs. gap between some divisions are a bit too big and I think a lot of fighters can get lost in between them i.e. being too small for one division but they are too big to cut to the next.

You also don’t want to spread yourself too thin and with too many weight classes the number of fighters in each division gets less. They get away with it in Boxing because there aren’t organisations like in Boxing and fighters chop and change between weights all the time, but in MMA organistations the rosters arent big enough to supply enough quality fighters to each division.

lol…honestly I wasn’t even thinking about you when I typed that. I am glad you left it in. I think its hillarious and I even went to si.com to see if they had corrected it yet. Whoever transcribed it went phonetically obviously.

props to chuck for lobbying to have this fight in vegas rather than england…

the ufc is sure trying to beat this thing to ground with regards to their expansion into england… i just dont get it… they have sellout shows but lose money ….wtf… not exactly to smart….

mabey like once a year it would make sense but they seem to be over there more than that…

does dana not realize that the uk doesnt really buy ppv… isnt everything free over there (exception hatton v. mayweather)

i get most of my pirated ppv shows through sopcast and they are pretty much always free feeds from the uk…

wonder what the end game is here…

as far as the weght classes.. they will never go to more than what they have…dana blasted elite xc for trying to add more divsions..

imo the more division the better…. for me it would mean more “champions” more room for better matchups… or at least promtional wise… just like boxing…

a fighter making 170 is unlikley to be challengeing 185lb… too often.. i might occasionally happen but it takes a speical fighter… where as if you had 170lb divsion and lets say a 177lb divsion it would be more coheisive.. imo….

im promotional wise you could have the 170 champ vs. 177lb champ.. it adds greater promotion to it… it would add more hype… just like boxing…. i mean come on .. there isnt that much diffrence between 147 welter vs. 154 super welter diviosn…

and if you have those two divisions champs fighting each other it always adds that extra aura of “unificaitions” that would lead to greater hype..imo….

im sure thats why they added all those weight classes in boxing… before i guess in the old days boxing weight divisons were big jumps in weight…

but the ufc will never do it… why??? cause more divisoins means more champs which will eventually mean more money that the fighters will demand… if your a champ at a made up weight like 177 and they hand you a belt.. WELL YOUR GONNA DEMAND CHAMP MONEY… which will create all sorts of problems for those tightwads at the ufc…

instead of paying their fighters more theyd rather blow money into the uk expansion which ppv they will never see back and they are selling out arenas but still losing money….

thats ridiculous if you really think that the ufc or any other mma orginization should have more weight classes.You start having more weight classes then all the good fighters get split up and the good matches will be gone. lets say that the ufc has the top ten light heavy weight fighters in the world. If you add a weight class at 215 then maybie 5 of the top lhw leave to that weight division and it could ruin chances for really food fights.

el boxeo the reason Dana White doesn’t do that is because this ISN’T boxing. He has stated several times boxing orginizations dont spend enough money to see it grow. By going to other countries mma is starting to get recognized as a legitimate sport. “I’m always yapping about the boxing promoters and how they don’t spend the money to build their sport and secure the future of the sport, for this sport to grow, we need to move out to Europe.”-DANA WHITE.

the sport is already world wide… ufc might not be but mma is pretty deep in asia…. its the us where its just growing…

boxing in the uk and europe is pretty big and will always trounce mma imo…

more weight divisons mean more fights and hype….key word is hype…. if in boxing the 147 champ fights a former 154 champ.. there is a sense of hype because they were at one time “champs” i know its bullshit but it adds to the promotion… now these weight divisons are so far a part it ends up being a virtural log jam to weed anything out…

you dont think that if the log jam at 170 right now could be made better if you created a 177 divsion and had a champ there… then there would be more fights , two champs , and more HYPE….. instead of what it is now….

i guy like karo who is now like 4th on the wish list or jon fitch who hopefully will get a deserved title shot COULD CONCIEVABLY GO GET A “177” LB BELT AND ALL OF A SUDDEN IT ADDS HYPE AND THAT 170 /177 SUPER FIGHT IS A REALTY… i know its all makebelive and semantics cause its pretty much the same thing… but thats how you would add hype..

the U.S pretty much started mma with ultimate fighting championship in 1993. In France and Norway its still illegal..Even here its still illegal in some states and in some only amateur mma. It may be near worldwide but its just begun to show how big it can be. Thats why Dana wants to promote it so much. A good example he gave was “You think about the NFL, right? There’s nothing bigger in the United States than the NFL — it’s huge. I don’t care if you didn’t watch one football game all season, everybody watches the Super Bowl. But, they can’t break through into Europe — they can’t break into Europe — and it’s because nobody plays football here. Nobody cares.”-DANA WHITE

As for the hype. What does it matter if it comes at the cost of good fighters getting split up by going to different weight classes. Just because there is a title fight doesn’t necesarly mean that their is tons of hype behind it. Most of the time the best fights are non title fights because people have such high expectations for title fights.Using your example you said that kayro is 4th on the list for a title shot and you’re probably right. imo i don’t think kayro could win the belt right now at 170(maybie against Serra but not st Pierre now that hes back.). But he shouldn’t get to leave and go to a “177” lb weight class just because he could get it there or because he could get a faster opportunity to get a title shot there. He should have to work at it. Keep the weight classes stacked, it just means better fights:)Think about it if Randy couture decided to go to a “215” lb weight class we might have never seen him fight Chuck 3 times or at all.